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THE EASTWARD ROAD 



THE EASTWARD 
ROAD 



By 
JEANNETTE BLISS GILLESPY 




NEW YORK 

JAMES POTT esf COMPANY 

MCMIII 



TH£ LiBRA'Ts'Y OF 
CONGRESS, 

Two Copies Receiver' 



SEP 19 1903 ! TS^'^*'^ 

Copynghi Entry. f r* 

COPY B. ^ j 



Copyrighted, 1903, by 
JEANNETTE BLISS GILLESPY 



^11 rights reser'ved 



(Clje ^to!txx pce^jS, l^eto gotft 



Of the poems here collected, "Sophistication" and the quatrain 
following have appeared in Harpers' Monthly Maga%tne, "Cour- 
age" and "Nocturne" in The Bookman^ the third part of "The 
New Year" — under the name "The Undiscovered Country" — 
in East and West, ' ' Seaward ' ' and one of the quatrains in 
Everybody'": Magazine, and other verses in Morningside, and 
The Columbia Literary Monthly. 



CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Seaward ii 

Truth 13 

The Hypocrite 14 

A Dream of a Day 15 

Past Recall 16 

Attainment 17 

My Room 18 

The Judgment 19 

Renunciation 20 

Experience 21 

The Last Tribunal 22 

The Angel 23 

In Springtime 24 

A Military Funeral 25 

The Perfect Judgment 27 

©aXaTTtt' ©aXarra • .28 

A Valentine 29 

The Past 30 

Forgiven? 31 

[7] 



PAGE 



Premonition 32 

Paolo and Francesca 33 

*'0 clear-ej^ed daughter of the gods, thy 

name?" ....... 34 

The Eastward Road 35 

Epitaph 36 

Esau 37 

''I Am of Thy Brethren" 39 

Resurrection 40 

A Prayer for One Dead 41 

'Tray that I may not love thee, best- 
beloved!" 42 

Courage 43 

"Landsman begot and bred" .... 44 

The New Year 45 

Limitation 48 

Aftermath 49 

Arithmetic 50 

'The Garden of My Heart" . . . .51 

Nocturne 52 

The Ballad of the King's Son . . . .53 

The Love-flower 55 

Midsummer 56 

The Way of the Woman 57 

The Seers 58 

Weariness 59 

[8] 



PAGE 



The Agnostic 60 

Reaction 61 

The World's Judgment 62 

The Highway 63 

The Heart of the Jester 64 

The Haunted Room 65 

Outworn 66 

Sophistication 67 

"I flung the shining thing afar" ... 68 

"The red-rose petals droop and fall" . . 69 

The Optimist 70 



[9] 



SEAWARD 

T NLAND my life is set 

In the tranquil hollows of valleys, 
The calmness of river-reaches, 
The quiet of daily labors; 
But sometimes into the stillness 
Comes a resonant murmur, 
A voice as of many waters 
Thunderous, vibrant, 
And my soul leaps out in its answer 
To the summons of the sea. 

Sometimes in darkness 

And distance of sleep I hear it, 

And I wake exultant. 

Thrilled with the roar of breakers. 

So I think it shall be once — 
I shall wake in the darkness. 
Hearing the summons far inland. 
And shall rise and shall follow 
Far down the line of the river. 
Far through the darkness. 
Hearing the roar of the breakers 
Nearer and nearer — 
Feeling the wind on my forehead 
Freshen and dampen — 

[II] 



Breathing the salt of the ocean — 
Till at length through the darkness 
Gleams the white line of the breakers 
Rushing and glooming to meet me. 

So shall they wrap me, 
So shall they carry me seaward, 
Into the night and the darkness 
And the tumult that dies into silence. 



[12] 



TRUTH 

'T'HEY came with their dusty tomes, 

Scholar and priest and sage; 
They searched from gray dawn to dawn 
In the writings of every age 

If haply by pain and toil 

They might limit man's faith, define 
The bound between dark and light, 

Might fix it by rule and line. 

Came by a dreamer of dreams 

Hand in hand with a child; 
A paper fluttered and fell, 

And the dreamer stooped and smiled, 

And, smiling, fashioned a ball 

From the scroll of the doctors gray, 

And tossed it down to the child — 
Who lost it, they say, at play. 



[13 



THE HYPOCRITE 

r^ OWARD from hour of birth, 

Hating the joy of strife, 
Lured and tempted by lusts of earth, 
Hear how he lived his life. 

Coward from hour of birth, 

Into the thick of the fight 
Leaped he as counting his life no worth. 

Battling with sons of night. 

Hating the joy of strife, 

He sang its glee to his men. 
Thrilled and quickened the chilling life 

And set it to fight again. 

Lured by the lusts of earth, 

He put earth by with a smile 
Godlike, serene, without scorn or mirth — 

And walked through the flame the while. 

This is the tale of his life — 

Listen the tale of his end. 
When doubts and longings and fears were rife 

And the infinite held no friend, 

He turned with a wave of his hand, 

A slow, calm smile of good-by — 
"Till to-morrow!" he said — "We shall under- 
stand!" 

And he died as he lived — a lie. 

[14] 



A DREAM OF A DAY 

T OVE came over the hills one day, 

With step as free as a woodland fawn, 
And the blossoms opened along his way — 
But the blind world called it dawn. 

Love sat down by a wayside spring, 
Wearied and spent too soon, too soon, 

And the birds in the trees had forgot to sing- 
But the blind world called it noon. 

Love went over the hills again. 

Clutching the last torn shreds of light, 

And the flowers fell in a sudden rain — 
But the blind world called it night. 



[15] 



PAST RECALL 

^ I '*HE earth stood still erstwhile to greet the 
sun, 

And life was turned to gold in those slant rays ; 
Then, in the hush and pause, was day begun — 

A chill, a bird-note, and a golden haze. 
Now stand we in the full content of noon. 

The promise all fulfilled, the doubting gone. 
Fulness is better; morn is past so soon — 

Ah, heart ! hast thou no longing for the dawn ? 

Once was a time when thou wert far apart 

From other souls, thy love from other love; 
I shrank from the still radiance of thy heart. 

Most fair, most pure, and very far above. 
Now I have tried thy love and found it strong, 

Leal to forgive, and faithful to forget; 
We fight together hate and pride and wrong; 

Sure it is better so, dear heart — and yet I 



i6] 



ATTAINMENT 

XXT'HEN the rain blew cold in my face, 
I glowed with an answering thrill 
When fate thrust me down from my place, 

I climbed with the better will; 
But now I have gained my prize. 

And find that it is not sweet, 
I struggle no more to rise — 

I can understand defeat! 



[17] 



MY ROOM 

'T'HESE are my walls that open on the world, 
And these my doors that lead to every age ; 
This bit of tiling saw Spain's glory furled; 
Here rounds the splendor of the Attic stage. 

Here Omar sings his creed of wine and song, 
And Swinburne sings his song without a creed ; 

And Mary, half-rebelling, triumphs long, 
And Echo's love climbs with itself for meed. 

Plato and Goethe greet as greet the gods, 

Browning and Shakespeare meet as man with 
man, 

Isaiah thunders loud, and Homer nods, 
And a high Christ fulfils a half-seen plan. 

And here, at home, and clad in modern guise, 
Dwell Faith and Doubt and Death and Life 
and Love, 

And Evil masks as good, in ancient wise. 
And Soul bewildered calls on Truth above. 

Futures are raffled for and kingdoms fall; 

The long-dead ages listen, look, are still — 
Only My Lady Lisa on the wall 

Smiles as the gods, who know both good and 
ill. 

[i8] 



THE JUDGMENT 

'T'HREE men met God in the Judgment Day: 
One had loved the truth with a mighty 
love, 
Had searched, weighed, sifted ; had thrown away 
That truth he sought, since he could not prove. 
"Know!" said God; and he rose forgiven 
Into heaven. 

One had reasoned little, had doubted none, 

He had worshipped blindly the good and true. 
Had thrilled with a vision beyond his own. 
Had yearned for the deeds that he could not 
do. 
"Be!" said God. With the word was given 
All his heaven. 

One had cursed the God that he could not know. 

Had hated the good and had loved the ill. 
Had made, not lightened, earth's weight of woe ; 
Now the end was come. Through the twi- 
light chill 
"Go!" said God. And the exile — ^well, 
Was it hell? 



19 



RENUNCIATION 

'VT'OU gave the Past — a tribute strong and 
sweet ; 
You gave To-day — fruition full and glad; 
I, who have naught, lay more beneath Love's 
feet — 
To-morrow's largess which I never had. 



[20] 



EXPERIENCE 

" VyRITE!" said the Angel. I took my pen 
And listened ; he spake to me ne'er again. 
So I wrote the message that seemed most fit, 
And the strength of my soul went forth with it; 
And instead of comfort it wrought men woe — 
Did the Angel will that it should be so? 

"Go!" said the Angel. I raised my head 
And followed the path where the vision led; 
But he left me far from the beaten way, 
And comes no more, though I strive and pray; 
And the task that I left lies all unwrought — 
Was this the end that the Angel sought? 

Or was it an angel ? Or did I dream 

That I heard the whisper and saw the gleam? 



[21] 



THE LAST TRIBUNAL 

TVTAN may be tricked by pleas he has not 
known, 

God may be merciful — all-great, all-wise; 
Only before myself I stand alone. 

Daring no pardon, stripped of all disguise. 



[22] 



THE ANGEL 

THHE Angel of Renunciation came 

And wrestled with me; and I would not 
cease 
From dusk to dawning, till I knew his name — 
Wherefore he blessed my yearning: "I am 
Peace." 



[23 



IN SPRINGTIME 

T LOVE my mother earth these days; 

Her touch is warm against my cheek. 
I lie at length where sunlight plays 
With little breezes hide-and-seek, 
And know her strength — and I am weak! 

About me in the tender grass, 

That bends itself against my face. 

My little fellow-creatures pass; 

I watch them from my vantage-place 

And love them — for my mother's grace. 

The air is full of song and sun. 

And chill and glow are strangely blent. 

I know that winter's toil is done, 

I know that all my strength is spent — 

My mother smiles. I am content! 



[24] 



A MILITARY FUNERAL 

T> UGLES so shrill and clear, 
Think you that he will hear 

Who never faltered? 
Think you that sound of drum 
Shall bid him rise and come 

To us, unaltered? 

Bells in the steeple high. 
In his great victory 

Think how ye rang for him! 
Think how ye rang again 
When on that distant plain 

Memory sang for him. 

In the dark land of war 
Echoings from afar 

Put life and heart in him. 
Ye who did give him praise 
In the long battle-days, 

Ye have your part in him. 

So, high and full and sweet 
Let the wild bugles beat 

Heart-beats of fire; 
So let the muffled drum 
Herald the hero come 

To heart's desire. 

[25] 



Here in the quiet grave, 
Earth that he died to save, 

Let the earth cover him; 
Smiling his triumph-smile. 
Here let him lie awhile 

With his flag over him. 

Glad in his soldier-life. 
Glad in the end of strife. 

Fears he no scorning. 
"Dust to dust," falls the clod- 
Leave him alone vi^ith God 

Until the morning. 



[26] 



THE PERFECT JUDGMENT 

T ONG time I strove to mould the shapeless 

clay 
After the beauty of my high intent, 
To body forth in line and lineament 
The thing I saw and heard and could not say; 
And some there were who, passing by that way, 
Praised the poor craft, discerning what was 

meant, 
But others railed at me for time misspent 
And mocked the labor of the weary day. 

Now with the throng came God, and from mjr 

place 
I whispered, fearful — "Lord, 'tis poor and rough, 
But 'tis my best!" With pitying eye down-bent 
He smote it, and it fell down on its face. 

"Ay, child, thy best — yet it is not enough!" 
My heart cried out; but I was well content. 



[27 



" QakaTTa' OaXarra " 

A NOTHER weary mountain-crest to scale 

After so many past. On either side 
Forest, where haply fiercest foemen hide, 
And doubt and famine every step assail. 
But hark! to those whose hope and courage fail 
A shout that rushes like the coming tide. 
Deep, jubilant, exultant, swelling wide — 
"The sea! the sea!" — ^what more to tell the tale? 

For triumph sweeps away the former pain 
And makes the weary journey seem as naught 
With promise sure of life and home again. 
Ah, soul! — shall ever any mountain be 
Where, all the summits gained, all battles fought, 
We too, exulting, cry, "The sea! the sea!" 



28 



A VALENTINE 

' I ^HE wise forget, dear heart- 

They leave the past 
And play the hero's part, 
Brave to the last. 

They weep not nor regret, 

Calm are their eyes; 
Dear heart, the wise forget — 

I am not wise! 



[29 



THE PAST 

T SAID, "The Past it is dead. 

I will bury it deep and still 
With a tablet over its head — 

'Of the dead one may speak no ill.' " 

I dug deep down in the loam, 

I sealed up the grave with prayer; 

But the Past was the first one home 
And waited to greet me there. 



[30 



FORGIVEN? 

T SAW Love stand 

Not as he was ere we in conflict met, 
But pale and wan. I knelt — I caught his hand — 
"O Love," I cried, ^'I did not understand! 
Forgive — forget!" 

Love raised his head 
And smiled on me, with weary eyes and worn. 
''I have forgot — what was it all?" he said. 
"Only — my hands are scarred where they have 
bled. 

My wings are torn." 



[31 



PREMONITION 

'T*HE summer has died of its own complete- 
ness, 

Died a passionate, crimson death, 
And our love has all it can hold of sweetness. 

Heart of mv heart — must the next be death? 



[32] 



PAOLO AND FRANCESCA 

'TpWO souls that, poised on some high moun- 
"■- tain-top 

Of pain and rapture, answered each to each, 
And straight forgot the level world below; 
Pressing all joy in one swift moment's space. 
Drank life and heaven an hundredfold refined. 
And so were — fools and damned? or blest and 

wise ? — 
The world looks on and envies while it sneers. 



[33] 



"/^ CLEAR-EYED daughter of the gods, thy 
name?" — 
Gravely she answered: ''I am called Success." 
"The house, the lineage, whence thy beauty 
came?" — 
"Failure my sire; my mother, Weariness." 



[34] 



THE EASTWARD ROAD 

T ET us go on along the eastern way — 
-*— ' Behind us flares the sunset's gold and rose, 
Before us, in the dusk that no man knows, 
The level high-road stretches straight and gray. 
Let us go on to meet the moon's first ray 
Above the eastward path that twilight shows; 
Let us go on apast the moon, till glows 
Across the eastern hills another day. 

Though through the dark mad shapes go scurry- 
ing by — 
Reason and Rapine, Power and Unrest, 
Kingdoms unburied, empires yet unborn — 
While the night wind blows cool across the sky, 
While man's ambition struggles toward the west, 
Let us ride on through moonlight into morn. 



[35] 



EPITAPH 



A LIFE that failed in Its success, 
-^^ That having service In its power 

Chose to be ruler for an hour, 
And knew not that it chose the less. 



[36] 



ESAU 



00 I have lost my birthright, do you say? — 
Granted. But was it not mine own to lose, 

To squander, barter, ruin should I choose? 
Who are you that make question of my way? 
Or what if I compute it little pay 
For the swift joy you moralists abuse? 
The moment's ecstasy that you refuse 
A thing for which I fling my life away? 
What had my right been worth if I had died, 
Or what were life, so hungered and athirst? 

1 am content; I have no need to pray. 
I chose my lot and I am satisfied 
Though I be outcast and my name accurst. 
Hell may come after. — I have had my day. 



[37] 



II 

But I have lost my birthright? Did I dare 
To barter for one hour all years to come, 
And shall I play the weakling, change the dumb 
Acceptance of my lot for vain despair? 
The guilt was mine, and I alone must bear 
The penalty, and pay the heavy sum; 
Were sin the less, or weakness overcome, 
If I should show the pain I may not share? — 
Nay, God alone, the God that I forswore, 
Shall see the blackness of the gulf I know — 
He who would pardon, but who never can! — 
And you shall measure grief you never bore, 
And mock again the pain I do not show. 
Who know myself cast out by God and man! 



[38 



"I AM OF THY BRETHREN" 

TS it enough, O ye who planned 

And toiled and died to give men light, 
That in the light in which they stand 
Ye are forgot, dim shades of night? 

Or do ye sometimes, w^here ye dwell 
In that far heaven serene and chill. 

Dream, though unsaying — "Ah, how well 
If one on earth remembered still!" 



[39 



RESURRECTION 

"r\ID Jesus die and rise again? — 
I know it not. I only know 
The windflower triumphs o'er the snow, 
And courage wakes anew in men. 



[40] 



A PRAYER FOR ONE DEAD 

T> RAVEST of souls that ever strove with fate, 
Victor by will, beyond the fleshly strength. 
What glad requital shalt thou find at length 
Behind the muffled darkness of the Gate? 
Shall the new life break sudden into song, 
And glory flame before thy weary eyes? 
Shall some swift-summoning angel bid thee 
rise 
To share the exultation of the strong? 

O friend, who smiled through all the heart-sick 

years, 
God grant thee first a little space for tears! 



[41 



pRAY that I may not love thee, best-beloved! 
Make thou for me the prayer I cannot pray, 
That I may go upon my silent way 
With heart unshaken and with brow unmoved. 
Pray for thyself, that thou mayest not be proved 
By pain of love or bend thee to its sway; 
Pray that thou love me not, lest thou for aye 
Renounce the peace of them that have not loved. 

For love is fine and keen and fierce as fire, 
Passionate, leaping, beautiful as flame — 
A moment's ecstasy, a lifetime's scars ; 
Leave then to me the anguish of desire, 
The longing and unrest beyond a name — 
Choose thou the splendid glory of the stars ! 



[42] 



COURAGE 

TF in the days that now are at an end 

I had been false in deed or look or word 
To that unspoken vow our spirits heard 
When eyes met eyes and each life claimed a 

friend — 
If ever I had stooped my soul to spend 
Less than the gold of love, or ever stirred 
To action by a baser motive spurred 
Than to be worthy — fate could make me bend. 

But, love, look back across the changeful years — 
Is not our friendship high and true and brave, 
Strong to all service, swift in high emprise? 
If we must part, then, let there be no tears. 
Life cannot daunt us — and beyond the grave 
We shall stand up and look God in the eyes. 



[43 



T ANDSMAN begot and bred, 
The sea-salt is on my lips; 
On the wings of the seaward wind 
My soul fares after the ships. 

My soul fares over the waste 

Of the waters capped with foam, 

And the swirling seas give place, 
And the curlews cry me home. 

The sea-wind is in my face, 

The sea-salt is on my lips; 
My landbred soul claims kin 

With them that go down to the ships. 



[44] 



THE NEW YEAR 



""iXZHAT shall the New Year bring me, 

^^ friend?"— 

The spirit spake: "I see 
A new love's birth, an old love's end, 

Regret and joy for thee. 

"I see the glee of sky and sun. 

The life of wind and rain; 
I see long effort just begun 

Deepen and grow to pain. 

"I see thee fail of all the goal 

Thy highest self can prize; 
I see thee, weak and poor of soul, 

Still rise, and fall, and rise." 

"Nay, thou dost tell of days gone by, 

The year that is at end!" — 
The spirit looked with pitying eye — 

"I see the New Year, friend!" 



[45 



II 

Whither ridest thou, Soul, so fast? — 

— Into the unknown year. — 
Who were the warders so lately passed? 

— Yesterday's-Spell and Fear. — 

Who are the twain upon either side? 

— Courage and Loyalty. — 
And the grim shape pressing thee hard in the 
ride ? — 

— Nay, that is Memory. — 

Knowest thou aught of the unseen land? 

— No man hath gone this way. — 
Fearest thou not for thy little band ? 

— * 'Trust" is the word for aye. — 

Are there no foemen who shall contend? 

— Pain and Distrust and Pride. — 
How if they master thee at the end? 

— Yet have I rid my ride! — 



46] 



Ill 

As one who, come at dawn upon a hill 
Marking the confines of some unknown land, 
Pauses and looks abroad to understand 
What lies before him, if or good or ill, 
Then draws the deep breath of the morning chill, 
Tightens his staff again within his hand. 
Straightens his shoulders, gives his soul command, 
And takes his march again with better will — 
So I, upon the borders of the year. 
Pause to behold the ways where I must go 
And breathe the deep clear breath of early day; 
Then down the slope of time without a fear 
Begin my march to meet the day's full glow. 
Eager to lose no moment of the way. 



[47 



LIMITATION 

TiyTAN I know not nor have known- 

I have seen 
How the hillside, dusk and lone, 

Leaps to green; 
I have seen the break of day 

On the hill. 
If no more shall come my way — 

As God will! 



[48 



AFTERMATH 

npHE flower falls. My heart, bereft, 

Goes softly down the darkening ways. 
Thank God that still the thorn is left 
As earnest of our rose-red days! 



[49 



ARITHMETIC 



HP HE thing I sought with prayers and tears 

And never found, I give to you. 
Because I am not w^hat I am 

Believe, and know^ the gift is true. 



And this I gained with bitter toil — 

Such search, such failing o'er and o'er — 

I give you, all — and lo! I find 
That I am richer than before. 



[50] 



"THE GARDEN OF MY HEART" 



N 



OVEMBER fills the earth with rain 
And drives the last dead leaves apart. 
Untouched by autumn's haunting pain, 
Untrod by shapes that lurk and start, 
Sleeps the still garden of my heart. 

There in the light of summer sun 
Thrills the red glory of the rose. 

You touched it once — that day is done. 
But still the crimson petal glows 
In that hushed garden no man knows. 

You touched it once and straight forgot — 
But, if you had but known, dear heart, 

You made such summer in that spot 
That gladness never can depart 
From the still garden of my heart. 



[SI] 



NOCTURNE 

CJPEAK softly, sweet, and bid the lutes play 

low ; 
Let the low laughter live but in your eyes; 
Dusk be the air and dim where, spirit-wise, 
Move we in noiseless passage to and fro. 
One lies asleep beside the fountain's flow. 
Lulled by the murmurous water's fall and rise; 
Him may we not awake to other guise 
Than this still shape that doth not hear or know. 
Fair on the borders of a dream he lies. 
Loth to let slip the ways by which he came. 
Stilling each sense that seeks the world of men. 
Hush, sweet! — no whisper — nay, no speech of 

eyes — 
Lest, roused at last by mention of his name. 
Love shall awake that will not sleep again. 



[52] 



THE BALLAD OF THE KING'S SON 

A KING'S son riding adown the glen 

(Sweet, this is but a song) 
Fairest and bravest of mortal men 
(God, but the years are long!) 

A herd-girl sat by the fountain's brink 

As he rode adown the glade. 
The king's son sprang from his horse to drink 

And smiled on the little maid. 

Smiled and quaffed and then bent full low 
And kissed her on eyes and mouth; 

So lightly leapt to his saddle-bow 
And rode away to the south. 

For the sons of kings have their work to do 

(Sweet, this is but a song) 
And he was a valiant knight and true 

(God, but the years are long!) 

Never he might come back that way. 

And the herd-girl understood; 
But this was the kiss of one golden day, 

And she knew that her God was good. 
[53] 



A peasant, barefoot and browned and torn, 
She knew that she walked a queen, 

Her gold the gold of a summer morn, 
Her kingdom the woodland green. 

The seal of her kingdom on mouth and eyes 
Where the lips of a prince had pressed. 

Her heart laughed up at the happy skies 
For the glory that no man guessed. 

But the king's son rode away to the south 

(Sweet, this is but a song)- 
And his true-love kissed him on eyes and m.outh 

(God, but the years are long!)- 



[54 



THE LOVE-FLOWER 

r^OWN in the April land 
^^^ Love gathered a flower, and kissed 
And shut it into her hand — 
So did Love make his tryst. 

And Aprils have come and flown, 
And the heart of the rose forgets, 

But Love still waits for his own 
Among the violets. 



[55] 
LofC. 



MIDSUMMER 

/^UT in the night's dusk spaces 
^^^ White shapes are gleaming. 

Rise from thy troubled dreaming 

Of human faces. 

Hush! Follow, follow, 
Down through the moon-filled hollow, 

Over the moonlit hill! 

Follow the faery leading. 

Let the night hold thee, 
Let her enwrap, enfold thee, 

List to her pleading. 

Hush! Follow, follow, 
Down through the moon-filled hollow. 

Over the moonlit hill! 

Let but a word be spoken 

Of human sorrow. 
One question of the morrow — 

The charm is broken. 

Hush! Follow, follow, 
Down through the moon-filled hollow, 

Over the moonlit hill! 



[56 



THE WAY OF THE WOMAN 

/^UT of my grace 

Thought you that for your sake I might 
have worn 
The crimson rose? 
Nay, friend, I fling it back with laughing scorn, 
Full in your eager face. 

Ah, let it sleep 
In the warm silence of the summer grass! 

Haply — ^who knows? — 
I may bend lower, after that you pass. 

And take it up — to keep. 



[57] 



THE SEERS 

/^ OD — so the legends tell us — on the eyes 

Of all sent forth to dwell upon the earth 
Lays light his finger, that in hour of birth 
They may forget the glory of the skies. 
Yet there are some who, touched in tenderest 

wise. 
May still dream dimly of a greater worth 
Than this nev/ human world of pain and mirth. 
Still reach past knowledge in divine surmise. 

Therefore they hear the secrets of the sea. 
Therefore the empty moorland, bare, forlorn, 
Thrills them with half-remembered ecstasy. 
And dreams come to them, 'twixt the night and 

morn. 
All faintly fragrant, like a memiOry 
Of the dear dead who died ere we were born. 



58] 



WEARINESS 

nPHOU knowest, Lord, If I have fought! 
Early and late my hand hath wrought, 
Early and late, in storm and sun, 
I toiled to let thy will be done. 
Now that there comes an end of strength, 
And thou dost bid me cease at length, 
No wondrous guerdon, Lord, I crave — 
A little rest within the grave. 

I am no coward, Lord ! If strife 
Await us in some later llfe^ — 
If there be heights we still must scale. 
And foes o'er whom we still prevail, 
I put peace by, a little while, 
Doing thy bidding with a smile; 
Nor will I ask reward or praise. 
Content to know I go thy ways. 

Yet if perchance there might be. Lord, 
A little rest beneath the sward, 
A little silence in the ground, 
Unpierced by light, unbroke by sound, 
A blackness cool and numb and deep 
Where I might sleep nor dream of sleep — 
Count It not sin, Lord, that I crave 
This little rest within the grave! 



59 



THE AGNOSTIC 

CERENE and still 'mid war of right and 

wrong 

He walked erect where meaner mortals crept. 

One caught him: "Make me strong as thou art 

strong!" 

Sudden he turned, and hid his face, and wept. 



[60 



REACTION 



T EST I should taste forbidden fruit 

I shut myself from Paradise, 
And stone by stone I built the wall 
That hides it from mine eyes. 

But now that I am safe outside, 
That if I would I might not cross. 

May I not sit a little while 
Without, and count my loss? 



[6i 



THE WORLD'S JUDGMENT 

IIT OW shall I know the strength of a man ? 

— By his fight with his bosom's foes. — 
But how shall I judge of that secret strife? 
— Good lack! by the pain he shows. 



62] 



THE HIGHWAY 

npHE world bears on Its heavy load — 

Who knows if it be gold or sham? 
We, vagrants royal, by the road 
Sit fashioning an epigram. 



[63 



THE HEART OF THE JESTER 



/^ ORSELET and breastplate, helm and greave, 

His armor mocks your hostile care ; 
Only the chance touch on his sleeve 
May make him wince, at unaware. 



64] 



THE HAUNTED ROOM 

' I ^ HE door is barred, without, within ; 

I look away as past I creep, 
Lest some day, moved to enter in, 
I must remember, and must weep. 



[65 



OUTWORN 

T^ O you remember when I stood above ? 

I stretched my hand; you smiled Into my 
face. 
Gravely you mounted to the destined place 
Where I stood waiting, calm in pride and love. 
Do you remember when I stood above? 

Do you remember all the equal ways? 

Through the bleak moorland where the night 

blows cold, 
Up the slant hillside, down the darkening 
wold, 
We trod together; and love kept the days. 
Do you remember all the equal ways? 

Do you remember? You have scaled the height, 
I lag behind; I cannot climb so far. 
Dimly your face shines o'er me like a star — 

O'er me your face; o'er you the morning light. 

Do you remember, who have gained the height? 

Down in the valleys where the women weep — 
Do you remember? — on a grave new-made 
One lay at length, and sobbed, and blindly 
prayed. 
Let me go back alone my watch to keep 
Down In the valleys where the women weep! 



66] 



SOPHISTICATION 

T TOOK the fruit that makes me lord 
Of good and evil. In a trice 
At gate of every Paradise 

Stands knowledge w^ith a flaming sv^^ord. 



[67] 



T FLUNG the shining thing afar 

And gathered up my toys again; 
How should I know it was a star 
God sent me then? 



[68 



ir^HE red-rose petals droop and fall — 

Must we then mourn, with futile tears? 
Nay, love, be glad through all the years 

That the red rose has lived at all. 



[69] 



THE OPTIMIST 

"LJIS long glad day of golden light 

No dread of destined darkness mars; 
He lifts his forehead to the night 
And sings his soul out to the stars. 



[70 



If there he any good deeds I ha-ve done 
Count them my mother'' s, each and e-very one 
But if for sin my soul be cast aside — ' 
Remember hoiu long since my mother died. 



[73] 



S£P 19 1903 



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